276 UNIT 2 COLONIAL MESOAMERICA
Box 7.3 Benito Juárez, Mexico’s Greatest Indian HeroBenito Juárez was born into a Zapotec Indian family of noble descent in a small town of Oaxaca.
As a boy he spoke only the Zapotec tongue and served as a shepard of his uncle’s sheep. At
around twelve years of age he moved to Oaxaca city, with the idea of learning Spanish and seek-
ing a better future. There he studied philosophy, theology, and eventually law at the Institute of
Arts and Sciences. Eventually he became the director of the Institute and a member of the city
council. At the age of thirty-seven he married a woman of creole descent, and the children he had
with her were recognized as mestizos.
Benito’s wisdom and knowledge of law led to his being named governor of Oaxaca, whereby
he gained considerable legtimacy by basing his governance on the rule of law. He remained
close to the Church at this time, although later on his liberal policies brought deep opposition
from the priesthood and their conservative supporters. According to one historian (Krauze
1997:164), underneath Juárez’s legalism and serious demeanor “[h]e resembled a Zapotec idol,
an imperturbable god, stonelike, dressed always in a dark frock coat” (p. 164). Gobernor Juárez’s
opposition to President Santa Anna—he forbad the President to visit Oaxaca—elevated his
stature to national heights, especially after the President sent him into exile (to New Orleans). His
stature continued to move upward by his playing a key role in writing the liberal Constitution, fol-
lowed by his leadership of liberal forces in the civil war against conservatives who opposed the
constitutional reforms. Juárez became president of the Republic in 1861.
During Juárez’s long political career, he chose not to issue policies that directly favored the
Indians. In fact, he was often opposed by Indian rebels in areas such as Nayarit, the Yaqui valley,
Yucatán, and Chiapas. Many Indians even supported the imposed emperor Maximilian rather
than Juárez. Like other liberals, Juárez believed that the mestizos were the future of Mexico, and
he opened the door to their rise to national power. Nevertheless, in supporting the liberal ideas
of law, constitution, and reform, he is reputed to have applied “the instinctive knowledge of his
forefathers.” Furthermore, it is claimed that his “innermost and religious longing... [was to]
save the Indians, ‘our brothers,’ from the clergy, from ignorance, from servitude from ‘torpid
poverty’” (Krause 1997:204).past returned, decked out in the trappings of progress, science, and republican laws... (an) imposition of juridical and cultural forms which not only did not express our
true nature but actually smothered and immobilized it.”
It is not surprising that the Indians of Mexico reacted negatively to the recurring
liberal reforms. Many of them supported the imperial rule of Maximilian, and Indian
rebellions during the liberal period were endemic, sometimes led by caudilloswho
claimed Mesoamerican ancestry. These rebellions should be seen as violent rejections
of the repressive effects of reform policies, and thus might be considered true liber-
ation movements. The rebellious Indians were inspired by such noble goals as com-
munity autonomy, preservation of land rights, and cultural preservation. The creoles
understood just how radical the Indian rebellions were to their own long-range goals,
and this fact helped push the conservative and liberal factions into common cause and
in the end tipped the balance toward the liberal policy of Indian assimilation.
The liberal reforms had similar consequences in Central America, although the
native rebellions there were smaller in scope and came later in time. The most im-
portant uprising took place in Guatemala, where the mestizo caudilloRafael Carrera